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Saying the Rosary

Pól Ó Muirí

BBC2 Northern Ireland will screen the Irish-language documentary, An Paidrín, tonight at 10pm. In An Paidrín – which will be subtitled in English – actor and film-maker Pól Penrose turns to a family tradition and says the Rosary each evening in an attempt to give up drink for 30 days and nights. From the Donegal Gaeltacht, Penrose visits Knock, Co Mayo, where he visits Community Cennacolo, a group who recite the Rosary every day to help young men who have lost their way in life. Says Penrose: “I just thought it would make a very interesting topic to look into the decline of this prayer that people said in tough times and was an important part of the Irish Catholic way of life. It became a very personal documentary and it follows me as I change my life style, abstaining from alcohol and saying An Paidrín every night.”

The Rosary is the nuclear weapon of the spiritual arsenal. Many people still say it today, at home and on weekdays before morning mass in churches nationwide; and which is not realized on account of a fierce anti-Catholicism (in particular), secular agenda-driven media.

“The Rosary is the nuclear weapon of the spiritual arsenal.” Ah, yes, so many contradictions, “peace and love” with a range of heavy weapons thrown in for good measure, just in case the old guilt thing doesn’t work, so that the pedlers and addicts of blind obedience to rote acceptance can continue with their mind-bending tactics.
It has always struck me as peculiar how religious people, especially those who bury their heads in their hands and shut out the world so that they can find comfort in avoidance of reality, just like addicts, love to feel so set upon by the “secular world” or any other martyrdom-inducing ideas. It all reflects the self serving nature of a people who choose to ignore the harm they do to others while shining all their attention on themselves. They might reflect, though I doubt they have the ability, on the fact that while holy Ireland was on its knees muttering the rosary and other distracting Roman rituals, that tens of thousands of children were going to bed at night wondering if they would be raped and buggered by predatory priests of that same cult. That’s exactly what “blind belief” was all designed for, so that those who claim to be right-thinking people can conveniently fool themselves into thinking that they are good by ignoring the evil done because of their individual contribution to collective blindness. This method of un-thinking perversity has seeped into the collective mindset of the nation, with “blind belief” casting its shadow of delusion into every corner and facet of our lives, by way of following false promises that only served to keep the people in a state of mental penury. The blind are truly leading the blind, so it’s time to get off the road to nowhere.

You recite well the current Liberal/Atheist creed — not so precisely Nicene in its formulation but then atheists have always been noted for their vagueness. Alas, this nouvelle vague is very much in vogue.

That was good. Just watched it on the iPlayer. The walking meditation they were doing in Knock is done by buddhists in Dzogchen Beara. Tried it once or twice myself. Head was too scrambled but definitely did find it helped though not for long. Always say the Angelus if I hear it on RTE listening to Mary Wilson. Usually forget if I don’t. Kind of the way we are. Foxhole spirituality my kids’ mum would call it. I’ll watch it again now. Very nice fella beautiful Irish I’d say the loss of his mum and dad must have gone very hard on him. Very nice fella actually.

Usually Shiva that’s associated with nuclear weapons though. Baghavad Gita recounts early on how one of the Brahma weapons, a flaming smoking spear that cannot miss its target and from which there is no recovery, was thrown at Parikshit, an unborn baby, not because he was an actual target, somebody else was, but once launched the Brahmastra could never be taken back. It had to hit something. It’s a sort of psychic ICBM. Invoked by a word and a gesture. One has to invoke the weapon and cast a straw at the target. Anyway. Sorry. Rosary and nuclear bombs eh? Well if you’re faith is the size of a grain of mustard it must be enormous we’ve seen what we’ve been able to do with something the size of an atom.